


Visitation

by RedheadedWhat



Series: Visitation Universe [4]
Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Death, Negan language, cursing, descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-10-30 06:08:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10870695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedheadedWhat/pseuds/RedheadedWhat
Summary: Takes place after the events of All Out War.Negan gets a visitor while he's locked up in Alexandria.





	1. Chapter 1

It was an early Spring morning in Alexandria, but there was still a slight chill in the air leftover from a long, cold winter. Rick Grimes found himself up and about while most of the residents were still sleeping. He strolled through the quiet community, noticing plants beginning to bloom and building projects beginning to take form. Life was good. He was proud of what his community and his allies had done since they had taken down Negan months earlier. Rick grimaced and quickened his pace when his thoughts turned to Negan. Even though the man himself was no longer a threat, Rick was still wary of Negan’s former followers, The Saviors. That was one of the reasons Rick was up with the dawn that morning. Jesus was coming to Alexandria after spending a few days checking in at The Sanctuary and Rick was eager to hear any updates the man had. 

“Perfect timing,” Rick chuckled to himself reaching the gate just in time to see a car let through. He had expected Jesus to arrive alone as he usually did and was a bit surprised to see a woman in the car with him. As the car came to a stop, Rick saw Jesus turn to the woman and speak with her briefly, as if he was reassuring her of something before stepping out to greet him.

“Rick!” Jesus called out with a smile. “It’s good to see you.”

Rick stepped forward to take the man’s hand, “It’s good to see you, too.” He glanced back at the car, noticing that the woman hadn’t moved to get out. He decided to ignore his curiosity for now and focus on the subject at hand. “So, how are things over at The Sanctuary?” 

“Things are still in a bit of an upheaval, but Dwight is doing a pretty good job,” Jesus replied. “There don’t seem to be any splinter groups plotting revenge for their fallen leader or anything. Mostly just some growing pains.” 

“What kind of growing pains?” Rick asked. “They aren’t re-thinking the trade agreement, are they?” 

“No, no, nothing like that,” Jesus reassured him. “It’s mostly just people getting used to the new way of things. Actually, one of the biggest problems they’re having is with Negan’s former wives.” 

Ricks eyes flicked back to the woman in the car again, “What about his wives?”

“Opinions on them are divided over at The Sanctuary,” Jesus explained. “Some people say they were nice girls just trying to survive, but according to others they are just as bad as Negan was. Either way, a lot of people want them gone.” 

Rick locked eyes with Jesus, knowing the answer to the question before he even asked. “Who is the woman in your car?” 

“She was one of Negan’s wives,” Jesus admitted sheepishly. “She wasn’t feeling safe at The Sanctuary anymore and she asked me to bring her here.” 

“Here?” Rick asked suspiciously. “Why? To be closer to Negan?” 

Jesus sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. He knew this wasn’t going to be simple. “It would probably be easier to have her explain it.” He then turned and went back to open the woman’s car door. 

Rick watched them speak for a few moments before retreating into his thoughts. He was not at all comfortable with the idea of taking in one of Negan’s former wives. Why would she specifically ask to live in Alexandria if not to be closer to her ‘husband’? Was she planning on breaking him out? And why would Jesus agree to bring her here in the first place? There must be room for her at The Hilltop or The Kingdom if she really needed to get out of The Sanctuary. When he glanced back over at the car, the woman was finally getting out. Now that he could see her better he could understand why Negan had chosen her. She was pretty with straight auburn hair and pale skin that looked as if it had never seen a day of hard work out in the sun, let alone months of fighting against the undead. She was definitely lovely, but that wasn’t what Rick noticed most as Jesus led her towards him. 

“Rick, this is Tallulah.” Jesus introduced them, his hand placed comfortingly on her back. 

Rick was struck momentarily speechless. Tallulah, Negan’s former wife was standing before him, one hand held out to shake his and the other resting on her very pregnant stomach. 

Well, shit.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that day Rick asked Michonne to accompany him while he talked to Tallulah. The girl didn't seem like much of a threat, but their past experiences had taught them that it was better to be safe than sorry. They would find out as much as they could about her before deciding whether or not she would be allowed to stay.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Rick smiled as he passed the woman a bottle of water. “Do you…uh…need anything?” He asked, motioning awkwardly to her swollen abdomen. He was raised to be a nice, Southern gentleman and there was still enough of that deep down inside him to not want a pregnant woman to be uncomfortable in any way, but the fact that she was carrying the spawn of Negan made him feel a bit awkward about it. 

“I’m fine, thank you.” Tallulah answered. “So, is this my interview? Audition?” She glanced warily at Michonne’s katana, “Interrogation, maybe?” 

“Think of it more as getting to know you.” Rick said with a reassuring smile. “I’m not saying we think you’re dangerous, but we like to be smart about who we let into our community.” He looked back at Michonne to see if she had anything to add, but the woman just stood there with her steely gaze locked on the newcomer. I guess we’re playing good cop/bad cop, he thought to himself before focusing back on Tallulah. “Why don’t you just tell us your story. Anyone that’s survived this long has got to have a story, right?” 

Tallulah took a deep breath while rubbing her stomach, as if the child she was carrying could somehow calm her nerves. It usually worked, ‘Just remember the baby’ had been her mantra for the last few months while she tried to find a safe way out of the sanctuary. Taking a deep, steadying breath she began.

“I’m from New Jersey, a bit outside of New York City. When the outbreak started getting really bad we were urged to go to relief centers, but we had waited too long and they were absolutely packed. New Jersey had the highest population density of all 50 states, or at least that’s the one thing I remember from 4th grade geography. Anyway it’s a lot of people in a very tiny space and as you can guess it was not pretty.” 

“Who’s “we”?” Rick interrupted to ask, “Were you with family? Friends?” 

Tallulah shook her head, “No, not really. Just the neighbors from my apartment complex. We knew one another well enough to say ‘hello’ when we passed and stuff like that, but we weren’t really friends,” she explained before getting back into her story. “A few of my neighbors had already been up to the roof to check out the surrounding area. You could see the city pretty well from up there and my neighbor Frankie was either really into astronomy or had a really creepy nighttime hobby because he had this super expensive, powerful telescope. Manhattan was absolutely mobbed and our neighborhood wasn’t much better. We were pretty much playing by horror movie rules by that point. I mean people were eating each other on the street, so the plan was to get somewhere less populated.”

Wow, this was more difficult than she thought it would be. Tallulah hadn’t spoken about this since she met up with Negan and had tried to keep her mind off of it ever since. Perhaps it wasn’t the healthiest way to cope, but who had time for that? Mental health was a luxury these days.

“You alright?” Rick asked softly, holding out a box of tissues for her. It was only then that Tallulah realized that she had stopped talking and had begun tearing up a bit. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry.” She took the tissues from him with a small smile. “I’m gonna blame this on the pregnancy hormones.” 

“Do you need a break?” He asked, looking back at Michonne to see if the woman had any objections. Rick, like many men, wasn’t always sure what to do about crying women. Tallulah didn’t seem like she was trying to be manipulative, but he was glad that he had Michonne with him for the second opinion. She still hadn’t said anything or even moved, but her silence spoke volumes. 

“No.” Tallulah shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs in her mind. She didn’t want to sit and stew on this for a long period of time. She just needed to get it over with quickly. Quick and painless, like removing a band-aid. “No, I’m fine. Anyway, a few of my neighbors got the idea to get a boat and try to get to one of the islands in the Hudson, which didn’t sound so bad in theory, but not one of them knew how to operate a boat. I mean, it’s not like we could just hop on a ferry or something.” She sighed. She still felt a bit guilty that she didn’t try harder to argue her point of view, but she had always hated confrontation, especially when she wasn’t sure that her position was the right one. 

“That’s where we split up. Most people decided that the boat was the way to go, except for my neighbor Tony and myself.”

“Wait a second.” Rick interrupted trying not to grin. “You were in New Jersey and your neighbors were Frankie and Tony? This sounds like an episode of The Sopranos.” 

Tallulah surprised herself by actually laughing. She hadn’t laughed in months. “Most of the guys in my area were Frankie, or Tony. We had a lot of Richie’s, too. So, you’d fit right in,” she teased. “Luckily Tony was more of the survivalist type than the mobster type. He had all sorts of multitools, hunting gear, food, and even canned water which I didn’t even know was a thing. We grabbed as much as we could and loaded it into his truck and off we went.” 

Tony was a good guy. She hadn’t known him very well beforehand, but he hadn’t thought twice of sharing his things with her and taking her along with him. She truly believed that she wouldn’t be alive today if not for him.

“Did you ever find out what happened to your other neighbors?” Rick asked. He was trying not to interrupt her too much, but he couldn’t help but be curious. 

“I have no idea.” Tallulah admitted sadly. “Maybe they’re all alive and well on an island somewhere, hanging with Gilligan and the Skipper, but more than likely they’re a bunch of zombies floating on a boat in the middle of the ocean. If they ever even made it off the dock.” 

Rick nodded in understanding and even Michonne looked a bit sympathetic. While losing people was difficult, sometimes it’s the not knowing that’s even worse.

“Tony had a brother that moved to some little fishing town in Virginia and was apparently an even bigger survivalist than Tony was. He said if anyone could survive the end of the world it was his brother, ” Tallulah continued. “It made sense at the time: the town was small and rural, so not a lot of people and if it came down to it Tony’s brother had a boat and actually knew how to operate it. Besides, we would only be a few hours from DC and if anyone was going to cure this thing it would be scientists at the capital, right?” 

Her story checked out so far. Rick had thought the same thing himself for awhile, until Eugene had proven himself to be a fraud and the illusion of an end to this crisis had been shattered. 

“It was fine for a little while. We would drive during the day and park somewhere to sleep at night. He taught me stuff about survival and I made some ‘go-bags’ in case we needed to leave the truck quickly. It was slow moving because of all the cars stranded on the roads and the occasional zombie attack, the trip usually only took between six to eight hours, but it was better than walking.”

Tallulah took a long drink from the water bottle in front of her, steeling herself for the next part of her story. It was almost over.

“One morning, just about an hour or so after we started driving again, we hit a roadblock. When Tony went to clear it, a group of men came out of the woods and demanded he give over his truck, his belongings, and me in exchange for his life.” As much as she tried, Tallulah couldn’t stop the tears from filling her eyes. “He yelled for me to run as he tried to fight the guys off, but there were too many. They killed him, but I was able to grab a ‘go-bag’ and get away.” 

“Were they The Saviors?” Michonne’s voice startled both Tallulah and Rick. She had been absolutely silent until now, so much so that Tallulah had almost forgotten about the intense woman. 

“What? No. I have no idea who they were. I didn’t stick around to find out, honestly. I was too scared.” She admitted, somewhat ashamed. Tony had done so much for her and she had just left him. “After that I was mostly on my own. I had no idea where I was and the running had taken a lot out of me. I have issues with my spine and back,” she explained somewhat hesitantly. Usually when people found out that she wasn’t completely able-bodied they decided she was more trouble than she was worth. “I had surgery a few years before the outbreak and I was probably going to have to get another, but it never happened, for the obvious reasons. I ran into a few groups along the way and they would keep me with them for awhile either out of pity or because I had some helpful ideas for scavenging and the like, but when the going got tough and it came time to run, I always got left behind. I was too slow, too damaged. Not an asset.” 

She tried not to be bitter, but it was difficult. Realistically she understood why they had done that. She wasn’t anyone to those people. She wasn’t a relative, a loved one, or even a friend. She was just a hanger-on and not a very useful one at that. No one was going to risk their life for her. She understood, but it still hurt. 

“What do you mean you had ‘helpful ideas?’” Michonne asked. “What kind of things did you help with when you came across a group?”

“I’ve watched a lot of horror movies.” Tallulah admitted sheepishly. “Especially zombie movies. I know it sounds stupid, but zombie lore was kind of helpful. I was also pretty good at finding stuff. My go-to advice was raiding a gas station for maps of the area and a copy of the yellow pages. Then you could make a plan instead of blindly searching for shit.” 

“Those are pretty good ideas,” Michonne admitted, “but if you couldn’t fight, could barely even run, how on earth did you manage to survive this long?” She wasn’t trying to be mean, she wasn’t even all that suspicious of the woman anymore, but if there’s anything this world had taught her it was that only the strong survived. If you weren’t strong, you’d better have strong people watching out for you. This girl seemed to have survive for a long period of time without either. 

“Honestly? Pure dumb luck and my natural charm.” Tallulah gave them a self-deprecating grin. “I was cautious. I wasn’t able to kill many of the dead, but I learned pretty early on that as long as I could kill one or two unnoticed I could hide under them until the rest had gone.”

As much as Rick was interested in her story, he was suitably convinced that there was nothing in her pre-Negan days that he needed to worry about. It was time to get to the crux of the problem. 

“How did you meet Negan?” Rick finally inquired.

Tallulah smiled, if a bit tensely. This is the part where she’d need to be careful. She didn’t believe that she had done anything wrong, but these people had been badly hurt by Negan and showing too much sympathy for him could put them off. “I had grown disillusioned with finding other groups, so I decided to set up a safe house of my own,” she began. “I took over a room in a motor lodge, you know, one of those motels where all the rooms are accessible from the outside,” she explained. “Even though I had been able to keep hold of my go-bag. the supplies were dwindling. I was going through the other rooms one day, raiding the minibars and checking to see if anyone had left anything behind and stuff like that when Negan and The Saviors pulled up.”

Tallulah had been scared shitless when she saw them. She hadn’t trusted rough-looking men all that much before the world had ended, but now that there were no more laws keeping people in check? She tried her damnedest to stay as far away from them as possible. 

“They went through the motel, took what they needed and offered to take me along with them.” Well, ‘offered’ was a nice way to put it. Negan had asked her to come along, but she really doubted she had much of a choice in the matter. “I wasn’t particularly interested at first, but like I said, I was low on supplies. In between the motel and The Sanctuary we encountered a herd. I prepared myself to be left behind again, but Negan protected me. He pulled me with him and carried me when my legs finally gave out.” 

Tallulah had been floored by that. She’d only known him for a day or two by that point and he’d gone out of his way to help her, even knowing about her physical limitations. Sure, he’d been hoping to sleep with her, but he wasn’t the first man in the apocalypse that had tried to fuck her. He was the first one since Tony that had tried to save her. 

“Obviously, we made it out alive. When we got to the Sanctuary he explained the rules and asked me if I’d be interested in being his wife and that was that.” 

Michonne finally moved from her place against the wall to sit in front of her. Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees she asked, “So you prostituted yourself for an easier life. Didn’t you find that degrading?” 

“No, but I was never the type to see sex work as inherently degrading even before all this,” Tallulah answered, trying to keep her cool. “What I found degrading was shitting in the woods with only whatever was lying around to clean myself up with and never being able to relieve myself alone in case of attack. It was degrading to have to choose between bleeding all over myself or sticking dirty rags into my underwear every month when I had my period, not to mention how all that dried blood would stay on me for days because there was nowhere to bathe.” 

Tallulah was trembling now, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her, but having a difficult time keeping her mouth shut. She was tired, hungry, and uncomfortably pregnant. There was only so much a woman could take. 

“Eating bugs or disgusting, expired food that I normally wouldn’t have fed to my dog was degrading. Fucking a guy that I quite honestly would have fucked anyway, in exchange for him taking care of me and keeping me safe?” Tallulah was looking Michonne directly in the eyes at this point. There was no doubt that this woman could kick her ass three ways ‘til Sunday. She was stronger, tougher, and better cut out for this world than Tallulah was by a long shot, but Tallulah wanted to let them know that she would not be insulted and she would not be pushed around. “That, I did not find degrading in the least.” 

Michonne sat back without another word and gave Rick a significant look. The two seemed to have a silent conversation while Tallulah just sat there wondering if she had just gone too far with her attitude. 

Finally Rick turned from his near-telepathic communication to ask, “Why do you want to stay in Alexandria?”

Okay, so maybe she didn’t ruin things. Perhaps honesty is the best policy, after all. “Well, this baby is Negan’s. I figured he had a right to know. I’m not asking you to let him out or anything like that, I just want to talk to him.”

Rick nodded, glad that she wasn’t going to protest his imprisonment or demand his release. “Why not just go to a different community and start over?” he asked curiously. 

“The world isn’t all that big anymore,” she pointed out. “No matter what community I go to someone is going to remember me as one of Negan’s wives and put two and two together. At least if I’m here, my child can have some visitation with their father.” 

“And what makes you think we’re going to let Negan see his child?” Rick inquired. “Do you think he would do the same for me if the roles were reversed?” 

This is what Tallulah was afraid of. Everyone made Rick Grimes out to be a fair man, but it was also common knowledge that he and Negan did not see eye to eye. Well, that was being polite. Rick downright hated the guy. Why should he have any sympathy for him or his child? 

“I don’t know,” Tallulah answered honestly, “but you’re supposed to be the good guys. The reason he is sitting in prison and not six feet under is proof of that. You and your people are more merciful and humane and if this prison sentence is about rehabilitation then letting him see his kid is a part of that. Hell, even prisoners on death row used to be allowed visitation.” 

“And what if we have him locked up for nothing but good, old-fashioned revenge?” Rick countered. 

“Well, then what could be worse than letting him see his kid and reminding him every day that he won’t be getting out to raise them?” Tallulah really didn’t want to give anyone in Alexandria ammunition to fuck with Negan, but she was getting desperate. “I know Negan has hurt you. He’s a dick, I’m not going to try to deny that fact. We aren’t star-crossed lovers or some fucked up post-apocalyptic Bonnie and Clyde, I’m not going to try to break him out or convince you to let him out or anything of the sort.” Tallulah could see Rick and Michonne weren’t entirely sold yet, so she was just going to lay it all out on the table. If it didn’t work, at least she’d know that she’d tried everything. “I basically followed Jesus around the entire time he was at The Sanctuary, jumped into his car and refused to leave until he agreed to bring me here because I knew this was the only place left for me. There is a good chance that having this baby will kill me.” 

Tallulah didn’t even try to fight back the tears this time. Although she had known it since the beginning, this was the first time she’d admitted out loud. In this day and age an unplanned pregnancy could easily be a death sentence and almost every woman in her family had needed a C-section since the beginning of medical intervention. Perhaps she’d be as lucky as her great granny Molly McDermott who’d birthed a dozen children with only a few pints of Guinness and a midwife for help, but she wasn’t overly hopeful. 

“Even if it doesn’t, the weight it’s putting on my back and the trauma from birth could easily incapacitate me for good. I’m not saying this for sympathy. I just want you to understand where I’m coming from. My child shares half of its DNA with one of the most hated men in the region. There is no way he or she is going to get a fair shake and it’s going to be even harder for them if I’m not around. At least if they’re here they will be able to have some contact with family, even if that family is…well, Negan.” She gave a wry laugh. Negan was many things, some good, some bad, but father of the year material he was not. 

“I’m not asking you to like him, or forgive him or even look at things from his point of view, but everyone has a story. You said that, Rick,” she reminded as she locked her watery gaze on him. “And I know you’re not bad people, but to have survived this long and protected your people so successfully there must be someone out there that considers you their Big Bad Wolf.” 

Rick looked away, slightly uncomfortable. She was right, except for the fact that most people who crossed him and his family didn’t live to tell the tale, let alone have him become the monster that hides under their beds. He looked to Michonne to make sure they were on the same page and saw reluctant acceptance in her eyes. There was only one thing left to do. Looking back at Tallulah he offered her a comforting smile and began to ask,

“How many Walkers have you killed?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate the comments and the kudos! Feel free to find me on tumblr at RedheadedWhat.tumblr.com and message me any questions/comments/critiques you may have. Thanks again to kijilinn for being my beta!


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later Tallulah was finally headed to her first visit with Negan. She was escorted to his basement cell by Rick and Michonne, both of whom were carrying guns, and was surprised to see two more armed guards already down there. Apparently, they weren’t taking any chances. 

“To what do I owe the fucking pleasure, Rick?” Negan asked with a grin. Tallulah was still hidden in the shadows behind Rick, so she got to see Negan before he saw her. 

“You’ve got a visitor.” Rick told him coldly. He still felt a bit iffy about this, but after a lot of discussion and debate it had been decided that there would be no harm in letting Negan get supervised visits with Tallulah and their eventual child as long as he behaved himself. As much as Negan could possibly behave himself. That didn’t mean Rick trusted the guy. Hence the armed guards that would be in attendance even though Negan wouldn’t even be exiting his cell. 

Tallulah knew that was her cue to step into the light and get this visit on the road, but she was surprisingly nervous. She hadn’t seen him in months and now here she was, about to give him life-changing and personal news in front of an audience of his enemies. He was not going to like that. He was a loud mouth, but he liked to keep personal shit personal especially anything that could be perceived as a weakness and used against him. Taking a deep breath she stepped into his line of sight.

“Lulu!” Negan greeted her, surprised, but not unhappy. “Did you come to fucking visit me?” 

“Hi, Negan.” She smiled, stepping closer to his cell. She decided to give him a few moments to notice that she was pregnant before saying anything, knowing that his eyes always lingered on her breasts for a good while before taking in the rest of her.

“Holy shit!” There it was. “You look like you swallowed a fucking basketball!” he laughed.

“And you look like the Brawny paper towel guy, but you don’t see me making fun of you, do you, Grizzly Adams?” She replied tartly. Of course he’d make a fucking joke.

“I’m just fucking with you, darlin’, don’t get your panties in a bunch.” He smiled at her somewhat apologetically. “You look good, really. Who’s the lucky fucker?” 

Tallulah was taken aback slightly. Did he really just ask her that?

He noticed her confusion, “What? I’m happy for you! I’m glad you were able to move on and while I’m sure your new man is nowhere near as fucking badass as me, he’s probably alright in his own way.”

“Negan, you’ve only been gone for five months.” She said simply.

“Yeah, so?” He shrugged. 

“I’m seven months pregnant.” She pointed out. 

Negans eyes widened. “Oh.” 

“Yeah. Oh.” Tallulah shook her head. How could he be so dense?

“Fuck no.” he suddenly exclaimed, almost looking like a trapped rat. “That ain’t mine.” 

“What?!” Tallulah gasped as Rick stepped forward to intervene.

“You’re denying that this is your child?” Rick asked. 

“Fuck yes I am!” Negan responded forcefully. “There is no possible fucking way that I’m the father!” 

Rick was confused to say the least. “Wasn’t Tallulah one of your wives?” 

“Yeah, she was.” Negan confirmed, crossing his arms over his broad chest defensively. 

“And the two of you were, um…” Rick searched for the least embarrassing way to put it. He so did not want to be having this conversation. “Intimate?” 

Negan smirked a bit while he watched Rick squirm. He may have been in a shitty situation, but seeing Rick so uncomfortable made it all a little better. “Yeah, we fucked.” he shot a wink over at one of the female guards who also looked extremely uncomfortable. “But I also fucked the rest of my wives and none of them turned up here fucking pregnant. Besides, I was always careful.” 

“Oh like fuck you were!” Tallulah exclaimed, marching up to the bars now more pissed than hurt. “Have you forgotten all the times you’d conveniently forget to put on a condom until I was too distracted to care? Not to mention that every time I did bring it up I’d get, ‘Aw come on Lulu, I’ll remember next time’ or ‘Sorry baby, my dicks too hard for me to think straight’?” 

Negan couldn’t really deny that, so he decided to deflect instead. “Ok, so what? Did any of the other fucking wives get pregnant? No. If I’m dropping fucking loads into half a dozen women, I would have gotten more than one knocked up.”

“How very eloquent.” Rick muttered, stepping closer to Michonne. He really didn’t want to be here anymore. 

“Sure, let’s talk about the other wives shall we?” Tallulah countered, a wild glint in her eyes that made Negan a bit nervous. “You do know that women talk, don’t you? Compare notes?” she was right in front of him now, staring him down without fear. “I know for a fact that you were usually a pain in the ass about contraception with most of the other girls. Amber told me that you went so far as to wrap your dick in saran wrap once when you ran out of condoms.” 

“That’s just because I knew that bitch was cheating on me!” Negan exclaimed.

“AHA!” Tallulah stood before him with her hands on her hips, her smile triumphant. “So you wouldn’t have sex with her without protection because you knew she cheated, but you constantly had unprotected sex with me, meaning you knew I wasn’t fucking around on you.” 

She kind of had him there, not that he was going to admit it. “It’s not fuckin mine, Tallulah! Stop trying to pin this shit on me!” 

“What possible reason could I have for lying to you?” she asked incredulously. “There’s no such thing as child support anymore and even if there were, you’re in fucking prison! You aren’t the big bad leader of the Sanctuary right now. I’m not going to get any perks. I won’t even get any help with childcare! How is pinning my pregnancy on a man that’s imprisoned for life going to help me out at all?”

Tallulah knew she’d said the wrong thing the moment the words left her mouth. She also immediately understood why Negan was acting the way he was. He wasn’t the nicest guy in the world and he loved to portray himself as a vicious motherfucker, but he did actually care about people and he secretly loved to be needed. Having a woman out in the world carrying his child all by herself while he was locked away and unable to do anything to help or protect her must be a huge fucking blow to his ego. It’s probably one of his worst nightmares, actually. And she had just ripped open that wound for a room full of people. Great job, Tallulah. 

Negan looked pretty pissed and maybe even a bit hurt, but he didn’t want to act out on it in front of their current audience. “Just go back to the Sanctuary, Tallulah.” he gritted out.

“I can’t.” She replied softly. She may have understood his motivations and even felt a bit bad, but she wasn’t going to back down. “They don’t want me there. No matter where I go, there’s going to be someone that knows me and knows whose baby this is.” 

“Allegedly.” Negan grunted.

“Well I’m sorry Negan, I tried to call Maury so we could get a paternity test, but it turns out that his schedule is chock full of eating peoples faces.” 

Negan reluctantly chuckled, apparently finished with the yelling for now. “This is not the place for you, Lulu. The people fucking hate me here. You are not gonna have an easy time making fucking friends.” 

“So? I’m in reality-tv villain mode. I am not here to make friends.” She smiled, walking up to the cell and putting one hand on the bars while the other rested on her belly. She felt a little better now that he was showing a bit of concern for her. “This is not America’s Next Top Best Friend.” 

“I forgot how fucking weird you are.” Negan shook his head and walked up to place his hand on top of hers on the cell bars. “I missed that about you.” 

“I miss that about you, too.” She told him, looking into his eyes and allowing herself to have this little moment. She had been telling the truth when she told Rick that she and Negan weren’t in love, but they were fond of one another. 

“So,” Rick coughed, once again feeling extremely uncomfortable, “You’re admitting this child is yours?” 

“Fuck no.” Negan responded immediately, dropping his hand and moving back from the bars.

“Oh for fucks sake, Negan!” Tallulah exclaimed. “What do I have to do to make you admit that this baby is yours?!” 

“I don’t fucking know!” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Maybe if the kid fucking looks like me or acts like me or some shit?”

“So unless this baby comes out wearing a leather jacket and trying to bash the doctors brains in with its umbilical cord, you won’t admit that you’re the father?” 

Negan only shrugged, completely done with this conversation for now.

Tallulah sighed and looked back at Rick to let him know she was ready to leave. “Fine, but this isn’t over.”

Rick escorted her back upstairs with Michonne taking the rear. Before Michonne reached the staircase she turned to look at Negan in his cell.

“You’re an even bigger asshole than I thought.” Michonne told him.

“Yeah,” he grumbled, sinking down onto his cot. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that has been reading and leaving comments/kudos! This is the first story I've written in awhile so I really appreciate any and all feedback. Feel free to send me comments/questions/critiques here or on tumblr: RedheadedWhat.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

Tallulah visited Negan a handful of times over the next few weeks until her pregnancy had progressed to the point where she could no longer safely get down the stairs. She spent most of her visits catching up and giving him some much needed human contact, but they all ended the same way: with her badgering him to admit that the baby was his and him shutting down completely. Her last visit was different, though. Maybe it was her maternal instincts kicking in or the fact that she had pretty much made peace with the thought of dying, but she didn’t want to fight with him anymore. That visit was short and sweet, just consisting of her taking his hand and thanking him for all the good things that he had done for her and forgiving him for everything else. For once Negan was speechless. He just stared at her as she reached through the bars to give him a kiss before leaving without another word. The next few weeks she was mostly bed bound, preparing to bring her child into the world before she left it. She was ready for death. 

Except she didn’t die. She went through an agonizing labor, wondering the whole time when her body would finally give out so they could just cut the kid out of her already, but she successfully gave birth the old fashioned way, just like great granny Molly McDermott, but without the sweet relief of a pint of Guinness to help her along.

She had not prepared for this. Now she had to deal with Negan all over again. Once she had healed up enough to go visit him she made her way down to his basement cell.

“Tallulah, what the fuck?” Negan shot up off of his cot the moment he saw her. “You disappeared for fucking weeks! You acted all fucking weird the last time I saw you and then nothing!”

“Well, I was kinda busy gestating and birthing human life,” Tallulah replied dryly. She could see he had been worried, but he had a shitty way of showing it. “Besides, I had written a letter to be delivered to you, but that was when I thought I was going to die. I didn’t have one written for if I lived.” 

Negan looked at her as if she was speaking a different language. Perhaps some alien language that made your brain explode inside your skull. He was angry and confused, yet somewhat relieved all at the same time.

“You thought you were going to fucking die?” he finally shouted. “You thought having this kid would fucking kill you and you fucking did it anyway?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” she asked, somewhat exasperated. “Besides, I believe the children are our future. We need to teach them well and let them lead the way.”

Negan pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm down or at least will away his migraine. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“Yup,” she nodded. “I decided long ago not to walk in anyone’s shadow. If I fail, if I succeed at least i’ll live as I believe.”

“Wait a minute,” Negan looked at her skeptically, noting her little smirk and the devious look in her eyes. “That’s a fucking Whitney Houston song!”

Tallulah broke down laughing. “Your face!” she pointed at him and continued to laugh as he grumbled and shook his head at her.

“I show you a little concern and you make a fucking joke?” Negan finally let himself smile a bit. “I guess that means everything is fucking fine.”

“The baby and I are both fine, Negan.” she smiled at him, wiping her eyes after they teared up from laughing so hard. “I’m sorry you were concerned, I would have come to see you sooner, but you know how difficult it can be for me to get down the stairs. You couldn’t have been imprisoned on the ground floor?”

“I’ll try harder next time,” he deadpanned. Now that he knew both she and the child were alive and well he couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t have the baby with her. As much as he tried to ignore it he found himself asking, “So where’s the kid?”

“I left him with a babysitter,” Tallulah answered simply. “There’s no way I would trust myself to carry him on the stairs at this stage.”

“Him?” Negan perked up a bit. “It’s a boy?”

“Yes. He’s a boy,” she smiled at that. He wasn’t claiming the child as his own, but at least he didn’t seem totally disinterested. “Would you like to meet him? He’s just upstairs.” 

Feeling a bit choked up all of the sudden Negan simply nodded and watched almost nervously as Tallulah called up the stairs for someone to come down. The feeling quickly faded as he saw Rick and Michonne come down, both armed, but with their guns holstered, and the former carrying an infant.

“You let Rick hold the fucking kid, Tallulah? Really?” Negan grumbled. He knew Rick wouldn’t hurt a baby out of spite, but he didn’t like how trusting Tallulah was of the man.

“He has baby experience,” she shrugged, taking the little bundle from Rick’s arms. “Besides, you didn’t think they were going to let me get away with a totally unsupervised visit, did you?”

She had a point there. He had been wondering where the guards were. After the first few visits they had scaled it back a bit, but Negan was never allowed to see Tallulah alone.

“Here he is,” Tallulah announced softly as she brought the child closer to the bars, pulling his little blue blanket away from his face to give Negan a better look. “He kinda looks like you,” she said hopefully. Honestly, the baby just kind of looked like a baby. The little bit of hair he did have was dark, but otherwise he just looked little and squishy like most other newborns. Tallulah had almost been hoping that the kid would have been the spitting image of Negan so he couldn’t argue his paternity. When she noticed Negan still hadn’t spoken she decided to launch into her arguments once again.

“I know he doesn’t look exactly like you, but-“

“He’s mine,” Negan interrupted with a quiet voice. “Of course he’s fucking mine. I always fucking knew that.”

Tallulah wasn’t sure if she was relieved that he was finally admitting it or pissed off that he argued with her that whole time for no reason. Either way, she wasn’t going to get into it right now. She didn’t want to get into a shouting match while holding a newborn and Negan looked like he was about to pass out.

“Can he hold him?” She asked Rick, motioning to the cell with her head. “You can lock me in there with him, I really need to sit soon and it’s just about feeding time anyway.”

Rick was not happy with this request, but he wasn’t surprised. She’d asked him once or twice since the baby was born, but he’d never given her a definitive answer. He’d grown to like Tallulah and trusted that she wasn’t going to do anything to help Negan escape, but he still didn’t trust Negan. He didn’t think the man would take his own wife and baby hostage to try to leverage his freedom, but he still didn’t like the idea.

Rick heaved a put-upon sigh, but finally gave her a short nod. Michonne moved into position, pointing her gun at Negan while Rick moved to unlock the cell door. “If you mess this up you’re never getting any visitation ever again,” he warned the man. “And Michonne will shoot you.”

Negan stepped back, keeping his hands up as Tallulah entered the cell carrying their child. When she was finally locked in with him he let himself relax. “Take a fucking load off,” he said, motioning to his cot.

Tallulah gladly sat down, Negan joining her a moment later, staring at the baby all the while. 

“You ever hold a baby before?” She asked, noticing that he looked practically sick at the thought of being in charge of the tiny child, even for a moment.

“Not fucking really,” he answered, “I pretty much avoided babies at all costs. I don’t want to be responsible for fucking breaking them. They’re too fragile and shit.”

Tallulah was not surprised, but she wasn’t going to let him off that easy. She was going to see to it that Negan held that baby by the end of the day. If it spits up or poops on him, well that’s a bonus. She’d just have to wait until after she fed him when Negan was too distracted by her boobs to argue much.

“So he got a fucking name?” Negan asked after a few moments of silence. “Or have you just been calling him ‘the baby’?”

“His name is Caleb Anthony,” Tallulah replied, lightly stroking his chubby cheek with her finger. “I haven’t decided about his last name, but it’s not like I need to fill out paperwork for him or anything.”

“I don’t get a fucking say?” Negan asked, “What about Negan Jr.?”

“We could have discussed it before he was born, but you spent that time denying that you were the father so I went ahead and thought of a name on my own,” she told him pointedly. “Maybe we can give him your last name.”

Before they could continue the conversation Caleb began to fuss. He didn’t really care about his parents naming negations, he just wanted to eat. Tallulah pulled down the front of her top and got the baby latched pretty easily as Negan watched curiously.

“See? Of course that’s my fucking kid. Goes right for the boobs, just like his old fucking man,” he laughed.

Tallulah rolled her eyes at him. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed without Negan making some sort of comment.

“I hope you’re keeping your eyes off her fucking tits over there, Rick,” Negan called out, not bothering to look up from her chest. “Is it weird that this is giving me an erection?”

“Yes.” Tallulah answered him immediately. “Yes, it is.”

“Nah,” Negan laughed, still not looking up from her chest. “It seems like a natural fucking response. I helped make that kid with my fucking warrior sperm,” he reasoned. “Now my busty woman is feeding my kid. It’s like proof of my fucking virility or some shit. It’s primal.”

“Please never mention your ‘warrior sperm’ ever again,” Tallulah was trying not to laugh, but couldn’t help but smile a bit. It was nice to see him acting like the old Negan, even if only for a short while.

“Thank you for setting up these visits, Lulu,” he was a bit quieter now, not wanting anyone else to hear him being almost gentle. “And for convincing Rick to go along with it. You think you could try setting up some fucking conjugal visits?” There it was. As quickly as the glimpse of kindness came it was gone and Negan was back to talking about his dick.

“Absolutely fucking not,” she answered. “I’m never having sex again. My vagina has closed up shop. Do you see the size of this baby?” she motioned to the child still suckling at her breast. “You keep your ‘warrior sperm’ far away from me.” 

“We’ll see,” Negan chuckled, never one to back down from a challenge especially when sex was on the line. “We’ll fucking see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last official chapter of 'Visitation'! Thank you to everyone that has read, commented, and given kudos. This is the first thing I have written in a long time and it was always meant to be short, but there may be a few one-shots featuring Negan and Tallulah in the future if people are interested! Please feel free to send questions/comments/critiques here or find me on Tumblr at RedheadedWhat.Tumblr.com. Thanks again!


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